Universities play a crucial role in fostering peaceful activism, which is especially important as civic space is shrinking across the globe and human rights defenders (HRDs) continue to face threats and repression. On 28 and 29 November, the Centre for Applied Human Rights (CAHR)and the Pan-African Human Rights Defenders Network (PAHRDN) organised a workshop to explore opportunities for enhanced collaboration between universities and civil society organisations (CSOs) to strengthen civic space and create an enabling environment for HRDs.